Monday, January 7, 2013

D Phrygian Backing Groove


Being sick can make a person loopy, so it will probably come as no surprise to my readers that I did an internet search for D Phrygian the other day, wondering if I could find a backing groove. Much to my pleasant surprise, one came up right away. You really can find anything on the internet! So then I was messing around, trying to come up with a tune in D Phrygian, which starts on D and has a Bb and an Eb, and suddenly I realized – how could I never have seen this before? – that “Oh Sacred Head Surrounded” is in the Phrygian mode! A quick internet search revealed that I was correct in this hunch. How had I never noticed this before? Kathbert seconded that she had never realized this, so that made me feel a little better, since she knows a lot more about music than I do. Here I’d been stretching for a sample tune in Phrygian, and almost everyone knows this Lenten hymn. When I mentioned to Kathbert that “Michael Row the Boat Ashore” is in Lydian, she had her doubts that it has enough notes to say if it’s truly Lydian or just the basic Ionian, i.e., major key. So I put it to my readers: is “Michael Row the Boat Ashore” in the Lydian mode? It seems like I heard that once, but I am willing to concede that’s wrong. I already have a backup tune for Lydian: “Of the Father’s Love Begotten.” And I still do not have a sample tune in the Locrian, in case Tiffy is wondering.

Famous Hat

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